A successful Tuesday

Today was pretty darn exciting! We arrived at 9:30 and within 10 minutes a staff member came over to the storage department saying the doctor in the new surgical ward needed our help with a table. Turns out the operating table that is specialized to be used with their C-arm x-ray machine was refusing to go back down. When we entered it was as high as it goes, without budging at all. After figuring out it was hydraulic and that it was the piston that wasn’t able to move, we ended up having to tip it over on its side- spilling oil ALL over the floor! That made it pretty messy from the beginning. After draining the oil, Soren and I worked on continuously pumping the foot pedal and forcing the piston to clear out the oil. Eventually it started sliding up and down easily so we set it back up on its wheels and tested it out. Then after a few adjustments with the foot pedal, we had to go buy some more oil from a nearby station. We poured the entire container of oil in and tested it out and it started working quite smoothly! As it got higher, it made noises like it didn’t have quite enough oil to reach the top so after coming back from lunch (which was delicious at Shanghai Restaurant) we bought another container and topped it off. We tested the table a few more times and it’s pumping up and down just fine. I texted the head doctor and he was so happy that he said he’ll be taking us to lunch tomorrow! By then it was almost 4:00p.m. and our department was closing so we’re planning on fixing the things we had in mind today, tomorrow!